Uganda Bars TV Station for Reporting President Slept on Job

By Fred Ojambo -
Jun 19, 2014

Uganda barred Nation Media Group’s
local television unit from covering presidential events after an
“embarrassing” report that President Yoweri Museveni slept in
parliament, government spokesman Dennis Katungi said.

NTV Uganda will remain suspended for causing “mischief”
until it apologizes and the broadcaster must promise to never
again humiliate “important” people such as the president,
Katungi said by phone today from the capital, Kampala. Museveni
was “meditating,” not dozing, he said.

Museveni, 69, has ruled the East African nation since 1986.
Last year, his government shut down the Nation Media-owned Daily
Monitor, the country’s most widely circulated independent
newspaper, for more than a week after it reported about an
alleged plot to assassinate anyone who opposed a plan for
Museveni to be replaced by his son, Brigadier Muhoozi Kaneirugaba.

No one answered the phone at NTV Uganda’s main office in
Kampala today when Bloomberg called seeking comment. The Aga
Khan Fund for Economic Development is the biggest shareholder in
Nation Media, which is based in Nairobi, the capital of
neighboring Kenya.

The company’s shares fell as much as 1.3 percent before
rising 0.3 percent to 310 Kenyan shillings by 3:26 p.m. in
Nairobi.